ecastle, the former extending from either end of
the ship to the waist. A good deal of superfluous ornament had by this
time been done away with, although there was plenty of it so late as 1689.
Charnock describes a man-of-war of that date. After the Restoration, ships
grew apace in grandeur in and out. Inboard they were painted a dull red
(this was, it is said, so that in fighting the blood of the wounded should
not show), outside blue and gilded in the upper parts, then yellow, and
last black to the water-line, with white bottoms. Copper sheathing had not
come into use, and ships' bottoms were treated with tallow, which was made
to adhere by being laid on between nails which studded the bottom.

The pitching of the vessels imperilled the masts of these somewhat cranky
ships of 1689, says a writer of about Dampier's time, who also tells us
that ships then had awnings, and that "glass lanthorns were worthier best
made of crystal horn; lanthorns were worthier than isinglass."

The sails were the usual courses: big topsails and topgallantsails,
staysails, and topmastsails, with a spritsail and a lateen-mizen; the
spanker and jib were not yet, but the sprit-topsail had just gone out. The
ship when rigged and fitted ready for sea probably cost King William's
Admiralty about L10,000. But the _Roebuck_ was pretty well worn out when
Dampier was given the command of her, as he tells us when relating her
subsequent loss.

_The British Fleet_, by Commander C.N. Robinson, is an invaluable book to
the student of naval history, and, notwithstanding plenty of book
authorities and ten years' study of the subject, the present writers are
compelled to draw upon Commander Robinson for many details. With the aid
of this work and from allusions to be found in the writings of a couple of
centuries ago, it is possible to make some sort of picture of Dampier's
companions in the _Roebuck_.

Dampier himself was a type of naval officer who entered the service of the
country by what was then, and remained for many years afterwards, one of
the best sources of supply. He had been given a fair education, and had
been duly apprenticed and learned the profession of a sailor in a merchant
ship. Upon his return from his first voyage to the South Seas he published
an account of his travels, and dedicated it to the President of the Royal
Society, the Hon. Charles Mountague, who, appreciating the author's zeal
and his intelligent public spirit, recommend